Analysis of Sweet Caroline

Song Analysis Sweet Caroline

Sung by Neil Diamond Lyrics by Neil Diamond

The theme of the song is romantic love. It is a story of someone who seems to be surprised by a new relationship (“Who’d have believed you’d come along”). The person in the song seems to think they might not have had good times but now they have met this special person, Sweet Caroline, everything seems better. They no longer feel lonely and things don’t hurt so badly any more (“And when I hurt, hurtin’ runs off my shoulders”).

Neil Diamond uses several rhymes in the song. The chorus is in a ABAB pattern with “Caroline” and “inclined” rhyming and “good” and “would”. Other words that rhyme are line 2 “knowin” and line 3 “growin’”, line 3 “strong” and line 6 “along” and line 16 “two” and 19 “you”. He uses personification when he writes, “hurtin’ runs off my shoulders”, because he is giving hurt the human ability to run. Another example of this is, “look at the night. And it don’t seem so lonely”, as it is giving the night the human feeling of loneliness. Alliteration is used in the chorus, “Sweet Caroline, Good times never seemed so good”, (s). Diamond also uses similar word endings throughout the song with words such as, growin’ knowin’ reachin’ touchin’, hurtin’, all ending in “in’”. He also uses repetition “touchin’ me, touchin’ you” and “no, no”. The poem creates an image of a sweet girl called Caroline who makes a big difference to the song writer making him feel safe and happy. The song shows them getting closer, holding hands, reaching for each other and keeping each other warm.

Neil Diamond wrote this song on May 28, 1969. He has given many explanations for his motive for writing song. First of all he said he was inspired to write this song about Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of President JFK. He even sung it to her at her 50th birthday party. The problem with this explanation is that Caroline Kennedy was only 11 when he wrote the song and it seems strange to write a romantic song about an eleven year old. Later, Neil Diamond said he was inspired to write the song about his love for his then wife, Marcia, but he needed a three syllable name to fit the music so changed it to Caroline. The song is now played at sporting events such as Euro 2020 and the Carolina Panthers but the lyrics have nothing to do with sport. The tune is catchy and it is easy for people to remember and sing along which means more royalties for Neil Diamond.